Suffering in and of itself is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it.
“Katie had the same hardships as Johnny and she was nineteen, two years younger. It might be said that she, too, was doomed. Her life, too, was over before it began. But there the similarity ended. Johnny knew he was doomed and accepted it. Katie wouldn’t accept it. She started a new life where her old one left off.”
― A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
― A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
“Everything I had worked for, all my years of study, had been to purchase for myself this one privilege: to see and experience more truths than those given to me by my father, and to use those truths to construct my own mind. I had come to believe that the ability to evaluate many ideas, many histories, many points of view, was at the heart of what it means to self-create. If I yielded now, I would lose more than an argument. I would lose custody of my own mind. This was the price I was being asked to pay, I understood that now. What my father wanted to cast from me wasn’t a demon; it was me.”
― Educated
― Educated
“The last time of anything has the poignancy of death itself. This that I see now, she thought, to see no more this way. Oh, the last time how clearly you see everything; as though a magnifying light had been turned on it. And you grieve because you hadn’t held it tighter when you had it every day.”
― A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
― A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
“To admit uncertainty is to admit to weakness, to powerlessness, and to believe in yourself despite both. It is a frailty, but in this frailty there is a strength: the courage to live in your own mind, and not in someone else’s. I have often wondered if the most powerful words I wrote that night came not from anger or rage, but from doubt: I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
― Educated
― Educated
“To look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”
― A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
― A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine
— 175596 members
— last activity 1 hour, 3 min ago
Hey Y’all, We’ve been reading together for awhile and we don’t know about you, but we’re ready to hear your thoughts and opinions. This group is a pl ...more
Kate’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Kate’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Kate
Lists liked by Kate



































